Vinaigrette Tomatoes... Two Ways

I've mentioned before that vinegar is one of the staples in my kitchen, and these two recipes prove it.  This is definitely one of the easiest, tastiest, and healthiest side dishes you can prepare and they pair with multiple dishes. In the past few weeks, I've made both several times and have eaten them with ground chicken burgers, pecan crusted flounder, and grilled cod, and sandwiches.

Balsamic Vinaigrette Tomatoes (2 servings)

Ingredients:

1 container small tomatoes (grape, cherry... whatever you prefer)

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

4 minced garlic cloves

1 tbsp olive oil

Preferred seasonings: salt (to taste), dill weed

Directions:

1. Whisk all ingredients except the tomatoes into a medium-sized bowl

2. Cut the tomatoes in half and toss into the vinegar mixture

3. Refrigerate for at least an hour and up to overnight, stirring the mixture occasionally if the vinegar mixture doesn't cover all the tomatoes

Apple Cider Vinaigrette Tomatoes and Cucumbers (4 servings)

Ingredients:

1 container small tomatoes (grape, cherry... whatever you prefer)

1 large seedless cucumber (cut into small chunks)

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

4 minced garlic cloves

1 tbsp olive oil

Preferred seasonings: salt (to taste), thyme

Directions:

1. Whisk all ingredients except the tomatoes and cucumbers into a medium-sized bowl

2. Cut the tomatoes in half and the cucumbers into chunks and toss into the vinegar mixture

3. Refrigerate for at least an hour and up to overnight, stirring the mixture occasionally if the vinegar mixture doesn't cover all the tomatoes

This work by Chassity Johnson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License (2013)

Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos

It has never occurred to me to use my crock-pot for tacos, but now that I've discovered it from Cooking Whims, I'll never make tacos any other way ever again. In fact, I plan on using this cooking method to make chicken salad too.

Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos (6 servings)
Ingredients:
3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can diced chilies or 10-15 jarred jalapeno peppers
1 cup chicken stock or broth
1 packet taco seasoning (or make your own using Mexican chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, salt)

Directions:
1. Pour tomatoes into cooker
2. Place chicken on top of tomatoes
3. In a bowl, whisk the taco seasoning into the broth until combined
4. Pour liquid over chicken
5. Top with chilies or jalapenos
6. Cook on low for 8-10 hours
7. Remove chicken and place on large plate
8. Using two forks, shred the chicken
9. Taste the chicken and salt accordingly
10. Spoon 1/2-1 cup of the tomatoes, chilies, and broth over the chicken
11. Optional: zest of 1 lime sprinkled over the chicken

Spoon chicken into prepared taco shells and top with your favorite taco condiments

Guacamole
Ingredients:
2 avocados
Juice of 1 small lime
Sea or kosher salt (to taste)
1/4 cup minced red onion
2 minced garlic cloves
1/4 cup minced cilantro

Directions:
1. Add the avocados to a bowl and drench with lime juice immediately to keep them from browning
2. Smash the avocados to a slightly smooth consistency using a fork
3. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine
4. Add a piece of plastic wrap to the bowl, pushing it down until it touches the guacamole
5. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Mexican Rice

This work by Chassity Johnson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License (2013)

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Last week at Bonefish Grill, I had a flourless chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, raspberry sauce, and nuts. I've used a Gluten-Free Goddess recipe to recreate it at home. At eight eggs, two sticks of butter, two bags of chocolate chips, I wouldn't say this is the most figure-friendly dessert I've ever made! And unfortunately, it's not quite as tasty as the Bonefish one... it's missing oomph. Oh well, practice makes perfect.

Flourless Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
16 oz dark chocolate (I used two bags of Toll House since chocolate bars are too expensive. Seriously, it would've costs $20 to get 16 oz from bars! Two bags of Toll House was about $4.)
1 cup light or dark brown sugar (I used dark, but the original recipe calls for light)
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup very hot coffee
2 sticks unsalted butter (room temperature, which takes forever, so either let them hang out on the counter overnight or do what I did and place them near the kettle until the start to soften; I used a kettle to boil water for the French press)
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
8 large eggs (room temperature)
1 tbsp vanilla
Optional: raspberry sauce (I heated up seedless raspberry jam), whipped cream, ice cream, nuts (I used walnuts)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. Prepare a 10-cup Springform pan by lining the bottom with buttered parchment and lining the complete outside with aluminum foil
3. Using a food processor or heavy duty blender, grind the chocolate until it's very broken
4. Add the sugars and process until you've got a consistently grainy mixture
5. While still processing, add the hot coffee through the tube and blend until smooth
6. Continuing to process, adding the butter 1 or 2 tbsp at a time, then the cocoa powder, then the eggs, and finally the vanilla *at some point, you'll want to stop and carefully remove the top of the processor so that you can scrape the granules down into the mixture
7. Pour the mixture into the banking pan and place in the oven on the middle rack



8. Cook about 55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the middle clean (a little crust may cling to it)
9. Place on a wire rack until cool (it will deflate, see pics below) and then cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, although 8 or overnight is better





Serve in thin slices

This work by Chassity Johnson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License (2013)

Stuffed Bell Peppers

I haven't had stuffed bell peppers in over two years... not since I could eat beef and cheese, but now I am taking advantage of my new semi-allergen-free life. This is a quick go-to meal that you could pair with a salad and would make anyone happy. Or at least, anyone who doesn't dislike cooked bell peppers (ahem, Valerie).

Stuffed Bell Peppers (4 servings)
Ingredients:
2 red, orange, or yellow bell peppers
1 box Zatarain's Spanish or Dirty Rice mix (both are gluten-free)
1 container ground chicken (optional)
4 slices pepperjack cheese
2 tbsp safflower oil
Preferred seasonings: salt, garlic powder, onion powder, dill weed

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. If you're using ground meat, go ahead and cook it and then combine with rice according to the Zatarain's package directions; if you're not using meat, just begin with the rice
3. Split bell peppers in half and deseed and lay open side down in baking dish; drizzle oil over the peppers and a little of your preferred seasonings
4. Bake peppers for 20 minutes
5. Remove peppers from oven, flip over, spoon a generous portion of rice mixture in each one, and cover each with cheese
6. Bake 10 minutes

This work by Chassity Johnson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License (2013)

Daily Guide to Shingles

Having shingles is mental and physical torture. I always work under the assumption that I am not exceptional--I don't have rare diseases, I'm not suffering anything from an illness that others haven't suffered--but when I read others' tales of shingles, it's a few paragraphs about how shingles is awful, shingles is the devil, they never want to suffer through shingles again, none of which is helpful when understanding what to expect when you're in the throes of this arduous disease. So here goes a day by day guide to shingles, as I know it.

More Health Conditions, Anyone?

I haven't written a health post in a very long time, in part because I've made no headway with getting the UVA allergy doctors to update their information on the tick meat allergy to include digestive symptoms, but also because I've been in a whirlwind courtship with several new issues that have left me in a daze.

Back in August, I wrote about being diagnosed with costochondritis, an inflammatory issue affecting the rib cartilage. Eight months after suffering severe consequences of this on and off again pain I've dealt with since 2007, my doctor and I are certain that I have something a little more serious than that since costo is not supposed to be a chronic syndrome. In fact, my doctor feels certain that my fibromyalgia and costochondritis symptoms are directly related to that extremely crooked spine I've mentioned, and that I may not have either of those syndromes, which is good news and bad news. Good, since I can visit a spinal neurosurgeon and determine if surgery, or at least physical therapy, can improve my lot, but bad because as anyone with spinal issues will tell you, the spine is not something to monkey around with; however, at this point, the rib pain has pretty much stolen my life and if surgery can fix that, then sign me up.

So after I bucked up and realized I had to learn to live with the rib pain from hell, I started feeling a new kind of fatigue, one that Dr. Internet likes to call "crashing fatigue," meaning that all of a sudden, I would feel like my power switch had been shut off. I would be in the middle of work, riding in the car, shopping, or laundry and all of a sudden, "Bam!" Turned off and done for the day! And unlike fibromyalgia fatigue, rest didn't help. Of course, costo makes resting almost as painful as being active, but still... sleep did nothing to combat the fatigue. Then, after suffering hot flashes at the age of 34, having lengthy periods, and uncontrollable outbursts of copious tears, I considered that I might be undergoing extremely early perimenopause. I scheduled an appointment for blood work and it turned out that I didn't have menopause, but a sluggish thyroid. I began a hypothyroid medication and after about three weeks, the fatigue began to lessen, the hot flashes subsided, my period resumed its two day schedule, and the tears faded away. And believe it or not, the thyroid medication fixed something inside my digestive tract, allowing me to eat some of the things that I'd  had only mild allergies to (less than 3mm), like chicken, lactose free milk, and some cheese. Can you believe it? Chicken! Cheese! I plan on having my allergies retested in a few months since this may mean that they have disappeared altogether, which is what the tick meat allergy is supposed to do.

Of course, the thyroid medication did nothing to ease the pain in my ribs, though. By late February, I'd had all I could stand, and once I realized that I was now giving up everyday activities (as opposed to the hobbies I'd given up for fibromyalgia and food allergies), I knew something had to be done. I scheduled yet another doctor's appointment, but before I could make it there, I came down with a splitting headache located in my right temple. It felt as if I were being stabbed in the temple every 20 seconds to five minutes and the whole right side of my head from the teeth up ached constantly. Within 24 hours of the headache, I had red welts over the painful area and couldn't stand by myself because it felt like I was being hit with a ton of bricks with every step. After I collapsed twice, my most awesome and perfect husband stayed home to help me to the bathroom and to the ER.

The poor ER doctor tried to help. He gave me fentanyl, which increased the pain and didn't put me to sleep. He gave me dilaudid, which increased the pain and didn't put me to sleep. So he sent me home with valium in worse shape than I was in (and no, the valium didn't help). I mentioned that I had chronic inflammation trouble, but I was told that a prescription anti-inflammatory was too serious for an ER doctor to prescribe. So, they can give you some of the most powerful, addictive pain medication on earth, but not an anti-inflammatory. Go figure. =)

The next day, I had my already scheduled doctor's appointment. By then, it had been three days of constant headache along with my regular pain, so needless to say, I wasn't in good shape. But thankfully, my doctor was extremely sympathetic and determined that I wouldn't leave her office until my headache, at the very least, was under control. A shot of imitrex left me in more pain and vomiting, but a shot of toradol, an anti-inflammatory(!), knocked the headache right out. She made me an appointment with a spinal neurosurgeon after she checked out my curvy bod (and by "bod" I mean spine!) and gave me a prescription for prochlorperazine, a nausea medication that is used for migraines, as well as the advice to take ibuprofen every four hours. But of course, me being me, I had to outdo myself, and by the next day, the red welts had been replaced by blisters and I had stinging pain all in the right side of my scalp and the headache was back in full force. Yes m'am, it was shingles!

Shingles, just in case you didn't get that... Shingles! I will spare you the photos. Another trip to the doctor for yet another medication (gabapentin, an anti-seizure drug that is often used for the nerve pain caused by shingles), but thankfully, the cocktail of drugs knocked out about 80% of the pain as long as I took them consistently. I had a little facial swelling, but I figured that was expected. It took another four days to feel somewhat alive again and able to tend to myself, and just as I was doing better, I woke up looking like I'd gone a few rounds with Mike Tyson (Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!, anyone?). Turns out, the gabapentin, the main drug that was helping not only the shingle pain, but also the rib pain, was causing edema, so now I'm having to wean off of it over the next few days, but this caused me to have to see an ophthalmologist to determine if the shingle blisters were moving to my eye (they're not), who gave me another drug for the shingles virus (famvir).

And that, my friends, is why I'm writing this post at 2:30 AM. One night without gabapentin, and I am back to my old self... I'm a stomach sleeper and anyone who is a stomach sleeper knows that you put your weight more on one side of the body depending on how you turn your head, so once again, if I turn my head to the left (on the right side of my face), my face feels like it's being used as a dart board from the shingles. If I turn my head to the right, most of my weight is being thrust onto the left side, which makes my ribs feel as if they are being crushed. I can't fall asleep on my back for more than five minutes at a time, so what's a girl to do? Blog!

Looking on the bright side, I have very few blisters, so it's not like my entire face is covered by monstrous sores, which is really important since I'm vain about my looks. The shingles aren't affecting my vision, which is obviously the most significant thing. There are some wonderful drugs in the world and I am taking most of them right now. And last but not least, I have the most kick ass, stupendous, rocking spouse in the world that can do wonders with grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.

Life and pain will go on, and through it all, I'm happy to still be kicking.

Chili Frito Pies

Chili Frito Pies (4-5 servings)
Ingredients:
3 tbsp olive or safflower oil
1 green bell pepper (diced)
1 white onion (diced)
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 can crushed tomatoes (I prefer San Marzano)
1 can chili beans (do not drain)
1 can dark red kidney beans (drained)
2 tbsp sriracha chili sauce
Frito corn chips (they are gluten-free!)
Preferred seasonings: salt, garlic powder, onion powder, lots of chili powder, lots of cumin, Tony's, oregano, and dill weed

Directions:
1. Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat
2. Add the bell pepper and some of each preferred seasoning and stir to combine
3. Cook pepper for about 3 minutes, then add the onion and stir
4. Cook the vegetables down, adding a little more of each seasoning (quite a bit of chili powder and cumin), until the veggies have softened and browned slightly
5. Add the paste, tomatoes, beans, and chili sauce, and stir and cook for a couple of minutes until heated through
6. Taste, add seasonings accordingly, and cook uncovered on low-medium heat for 20 minutes
7. Stir, taste, adjust seasonings if necessary, and continue cooking until preferred flavor is reached

Top corn chips with chili, sour cream, and veggie shreds

This work by Chassity Johnson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License (2013)